Does anyone have experience with Lighthouse tech support? The site looks pretty stale, and I wrote a couple of days ago regarding my recent clutch failure and the broken manual (winch handle) interface. I think I need a rebuild and a few extras (like a remote).

Hmmm... getting concerned here. I was happy to see a Lighthouse 1501 when I bought my boat, but now I have problems and am starting to wonder if they still exist. No email reply, their web presence is a bit of a cobwebsite, and the published phone number only yields a "mailbox full" message. Is this as bad as it sounds?

Hmmm... getting concerned here. I was happy to see a Lighthouse 1501 when I bought my boat, but now I have problems and am starting to wonder if they still exist. No email reply, their web presence is a bit of a cobwebsite, and the published phone number only yields a "mailbox full" message. Is this as bad as it sounds?
Steve

Having been to the Lighthouse Mfg. Co. website, Iím sure you noticed that their last published testimonial was dated 1997.FWIW:
Lighthouse Mfg. Co.
2944 Rubidoux Blvd.
Riverside, CA 92509Tel: 951-683-5078Fax: 951-683-4191 Email:info@lighthouse-mfg-usa.com

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Gord May "If you didn't have the time or money to do it right in the first place, when will you get the time/$ to fix it?"

Not a good sign. At best: company with no tech support. At worst: no company. A new windlass is not in my budget, so I guess I'll haul it to the lab and see what I can do. Probably some independent windlass-rebuilders out there, given how many of these were made.

I have a Lighthouse 1501. It works well, but I have had one motor fail because salt water got past the improperly sealed vertical stainless tube that carries the motor. The bad sealing was not the fault of Lighthouse.

As for service, I was able to phone them last year to purchase a new motor, and have my old one rebuilt.

My sense is that they are a low-volume shop with zero web-presence. It did take a few tries before I was able to speak to a real person on the phone, so keep trying.

I'll stay on 'em, Paul - thanks. This is a real hazard of a declining economy - loss of tech support for existing products and declining budgets to replace them with new ones. There's a niche for enterprising freelancers here (not just windlasses; I mean that in general terms).